things that you can find in a resume

hobby: eating, sleeping, shopping

will you call him/ her for an interview? why not?

financial planning $$$

some of my collegues and i recently attended a grooming & business etiquette class... one part of the training was on financial planning

do you agree with this???

from you salary,

55% goes to necessities (loans, , bills, petrol, meals etc..)
10% --> playing (entertainment e.g. karaoke, cinema etc..)
10% --> learning (attend baking, sewing, make-up class etc...)
10% --> financial freedom accounts (for retirement purposes)
10% --> long term investments
5% --> charity(for parents, to donate)

human who is so in-considerate

one fine evening as we(me, sis & colleague) were walking towards my car after a hard day at work... oops... just a few feet away i noticed that the car on my right parked so near to my car until i cannot open the door to get into my driver's seat

in this situation, what to do but to call the driver to come down and remove the car "a bit" for me to get in.... got one of my colleague who is still in office to call and inform the driver about it... we shall call her Madam U

after a wait of 10 minutes, she walked towards us... and her face expressions was "blank"... as in no emotion.... no sad face, no happy face and most importantly no sorry face....

fine.... as i have expected Madam U to be a very cool person.... as everyone of us at work knows her......

as she almost reached her car, she looked at me with a very "I DO NOTHING WRONG HERE" face and asked me

"why? you cannot climb in from the front passenger seat to get into your driver's seat???"

what was my answer? I WISH I CAN DO IT THAT WAY

but hey! in my heart: i am not one small frame person.... plus i am wearing skirts! how to climb lah?

my dissatisfaction is IF YOU DO SOMETHING WRONG & DON'T WANT TO APOLOGIZE, PLEASE DON'T BLAME THE OTHER PARTY FOR GIVING YOU TROUBLE INSTEAD...

and in my case, Madam U feels that we need not call her to remove her car for me to get into my car as i could have climb in from the front passenger's seat... which means i am the one giving trouble and i am the one in the wrong

VERY CLEVER OF HER!

mr lim & I

me: good afternoon, customer service. This is Peggy speaking. How may I help u?
mr lim: this is Lim. i want to make a complain.

me: mr lim, how may i help u?
mr lim: you are so rude. you never introduce yourself. how would i know if i am talking to a sweeper? (he then started laughing by himself)

me: mr lim, this is Peggy speaking. I am the customer service executive. how may i help u?
mr lim: i want to check the toner stock

me: sorry mr lim, can i have your company name and contact no. first?
mr lim: you are so rude. i haven't finish talking and you start to ask me questions

me: sorry mr lim, just in case the line cut off then i would have your contact details to call you back
mr lim: you are so clever hor? to give such an excuse. you listen to my complaint first

me: sure mr lim, how can i help u?
mr lim: since u are an executive, can you check whether u got stock for toner model e16?

me: one moment please. let me check for u

me: mr lim, yes we do have stock for e16
mr lim: a lot of stock or not enough of stock

me: i would say average sir
mr lim: then why your stupid branch in JB tells me no stock? if you got avergae stock in KL, means something is wrong with your distribution system right?

me: mr lim, let me contact my JB branch and i shall get back to you on this matter.
mr lim: you guys better improve your distribution system or else a big company like yours will close down someday

me: mr lim, why not u give me your contact details? i shall get the customer service manager to return your call once she is back from discussion
mr lim: my company name is E-XYZ Stationeries and my office number is 07-12345567

me: mr lim, may i know what time u will be leaving your office today or maybe can i have your mobile number please?
mr lim: today i will be in my office until late nite coz if i go home i can't sleep thinking about my machine out of toner (he started laughing to himself again!).. u write down my mobile number then.... 01x-xxxxxxx

me: let me repeat your contact numbers, mr lim.... bla..bla..bla....
mr lim: ok. you make sure your boss calls me back

that was a conversation i had with an angry customer two days ago... come to think of it, it was a funny conversation.... and it make my day or else it will just be another boring working day.... hehehe

5 days work week

the day has come.... after working for my current company for the past 6 years, there will be a change of working hours and week....

effective july 1st '08... we will be working 5 working days a week... 8.45am to 5.45pm....

current is 8.45am to 5.15pm and alternate working saturday 8.45am to 1.00pm

so, we will have more flexibility to plan for holidays..... no need to count which saturday will we be working..... and no need to get a colleague to swap saturdays.........

and the best part is we get to save petrol coz onli need to travel 5 days to work.....

baby gifts from company

the place i'm working at have a monthly gathering for staff birthdays, newly married and newborns..... 3 years ago i got a vacuum cleaner as a wedding gift

and this year, i got this for Daniel:

interviewing a special young lady

the other day i interviewed a candidate... i would say a special candidate because she is the first handicapped person i ever interview.... our CSD dept currently(since i joined!) has two permanent staffs & one contract staff who are special in their own way..... all three of them are mute...... we often communicate by writing on a piece of paper or sometimes, by simple sign language....

but this time, i interviewed a young lady who lost half of her right hand(she only has her right arm down to the elbow only)... means she does not have her right hand fingers/ palm......

i really pity her a lot... but yet, i could not offer her either permanent or temporary position... the staff that we are looking for needs to handle A LOT OF paper work(filling, scanning, shredding etc....)..... sometimes we oso need to carry/ arrange our stationeries(A4 paper/ invoices paper etc..)

of course this special lady can do such work but we also need someone who can work at speed(with the expanding business, more workload)..........

i hope that she can find work at another office who can offer her a job but need not work in such "speedy" environment.... somewhere not so challenging.....

after meeting her, it makes me appreciate my life more..... the ability of us to do the things that we want or need to do.... and at any time we wanna do it....

working shift

i have alwiz wonder how it feels like working shift.... well, not that i am working shift now but it's my dear hubby..... dunno about what production line needs engineer suport when they work at nite/ midnite...... dunno-lah.... just don't understand coz all this while hubby are not required to work shift......

for the 1st week, he & a few of his colleagues have been working 7.00am to 7.00pm(of course he did not leave his workplace so punctual but actually reach home onli about 9.30pm)........

and for this 2nd week(which by the way, today is his last day for working shift), he works from 7.00pm to 7.00am(and when he works this shift, he leaves his workplace punctually becoz he is already half sleepy).....

i mean, can you work the graveyard(midnite) shift? i definitely cannot. definitely NO!

reason:
- i sleep quite early(10.30pm averagely on weekdays but I can sleep at 9.00pm if i want to... hehehe)

- i will not be able to live normally as in watching TV, surfing net coz if work midnite shift means whole afternoon will be spent sleeping, then wake up for early dinner, bath & go to work... see-lah.... where got time for all this luxury???

- i will miss my dear hubby a lot.... for the 1st week(morning shift), hubby leaves for work before i wake up..... and reach home late which is almost my sleeping time..... and for this 2nd week(nite shift), i rush home on Monday, Wednesday & Friday to catch my hubby before he leaves for work at 6.15pm... means i left my workplace on the dot at 5.20pm and reach home about 5.45pm to chat with him for a while and catch up a little bit on our daily life.... ya...... the precious half an hour or less.....

i really salute those who can rotate working shift either morning shift, afternoon shift and nite shift.... i guess it takes time to adjust to this lifestyle...

i hope this will be the last day that my dear hubby got to work shift...... sigh.....

interviews

recently, again i get to meet all kind of candidates who came to apply job as cust svc exec..... dunno why but seems like many many ppl who are working are actually planning for career advancement and better salary/ benefits..... maybe this is a sign for me to do the same???

of course there is also some of them who are currently not working and can start working almost immediately..... yup those are the one who got married right after studies and have kid(s)...

and this candidates are still young.... below 25 years old...... i can't imagine myself in their shoes... not that i look down on them but it just make me wonder if i can cope with what they have achieve so far(as in get married, hv kid, stay at home, no working experience)....

and sad to say, most of them do not meet our requirement as they could hardly speak English... i really pity them since nowadays, which employer do not required us to speak English at working place? maybe got-lah... e.g. cleaner (since they do not need to do any talking, but there is still a possibility that they need to converse in English when they are doing their work)....

so, what did i do with these candidates??? well, i can only tell them that we will contact them again if they are selected for 2nd interview(which of course is rare to happen)!

anything is possible

i attended an internal leadership training few months back and i planned to blog about it earlier... but oops! somehow i just forgot about it..... hehehe... busy-mah....

this photo prove that "sometimes we need to think out of the box to solve our many daily obstacles/ problems".... yup! we can actually poke a balloon with a "sharp & thin bamboo stick" without bursting it...... have u tried it b4? i did it that day and i was like WOW!

boring weeks to come

dunno why these few weeks my workload has increased suddenly... i guess i am now shouldering more responsibilites at work place.... nope.... i did not get any job promotion(not that i want coz i am not those career minded type of person, hehehe....)

i enjoy learning new things at work but i really need to manage my time better..... there is just so many pending work around...

first of all, i am learning about internal audit... i hv been selected to be in the internal audit team committee..... started with one whole day of training last week and tomolo there will be a two hours briefing on the coming internal audit scheduled for the coming wednesday & thursday....

secondly, there will be a service kick-off for my EI division held annually.... as one of the section leader, i will hv to do a presentation on my meter reading section... did i tell u b4 that i just HATE presentations? from school days to uni life and now to work place...... i really HATE it a lot...

but what to do? i got to "jaga" my "rice bowl"....... or else my hubby will not be able to support me financially(rite dear???)...... so, die die also got to do presentation lor.....

this will be the 2nd time that i'm giving this presentation... the first time i did it was 2 years ago.... and to make things worse, it'll be held on the 27th of this month...... why worse? coz it's month end... the most busy days of the month plus i'll be taking leave on the 3oth(last day of the month)... sure a lot of my work will be pending again until i come back to work in early may....

don't care about the work now... i better start preparing for the presentations.....

hmmm... i wish hubby is with me now..... he'll definitely tell me "aiyah! presentation onli mah! what to worry?"... he's CORRECT.... no big deal.....

miss you dear...

interviews

i usually conduct the first level of interview for my boss (since she is so so busy with her work). I will then shortlist those "better" candidates for her. A few main points that i look for when I conduct interview.

1. appearance: no need someone with a model look. we just need someone who is presentable.
2. dressing: preferably formal (first impression is very important mah)
3. application form: thank god if all candidates can fill up all the required info
4. documents: i mean certificates & UPDATED passport size photo
5. conversation skill: basic good spoken English (since we spend most of the time on the phone talking to customer)

(Un)fortunately today is not a good day for interviews. Today we had three (3) candidates.

Candidate A

- appearance: average
- dressing: semi-formal
- application form: i can onli see scribble of words......
- documents: no SPM certificate. reason given: dunno where she put it liao. no updated passpost size photo also. reason given: the shop that she goes to do not hv express photo service. hello! is that the onli photo shop around??? and i had actually informed her four days earlier to get ready for interview..... sigh....
- English: average

reason to leave current company: wanna join a bigger company like ours.... but our company not that big oso..... hehehe

Candidate B

- appearance: average
- dressing: very IN. thought she's going for modelling job
- application form: all info fill up......
- documents: all complete except of a UPDATED passport size photo (she brought one that has a young model look)
- English: below average

reason to leave current company: wanna learn more new things (but she onli work at her current company for about two months plus onli)

Candidate C

- appearance: below below average (sori to say but she reminds me of a drug addict)
- dressing: casual
- application form: all info fill up
- documents: all complete except of a UPDATED passport size photo (forgot to bring... good excuse huh???)
- English: below average

reason to leave current company: for a better working environment.... how good is GOOD?

IN CONCLUSION: it ain't easy to shortlist anyone of them for 2nd interview, rite? and this is so TRUE......

annual trip - kuantan 2006 (31st aug - 2nd sept)

i joined my company's annual trip & annual dinner... this year round, we were off to Kuantan... we stayed 3 days & 2 nites at Swiss Garden Resort & Spa, Kuantan

* the comfortable room that we stayed in *

* the many happy faces of us *

comments on

• accomodation : good, clean & spacious room
• food : limited variety, not so tasty
• beach: clean & clear water(can even see the small fishes swimming around the beach side)
• facilities : not bad... they have spa & massage ... cycling... water sports... swimming pool.... recreational facilities(tennis courts, gym, pool etc...)

* me with my "adopted" kids at the hotel's children playground... hehehe *

customer service II

CSE: Good afternoon, customer service dept. How may I help you?
Ms X: This is Ms X from ABC Company. I don't know how many times I need to call up before you guys send someone over to repair our fax machine which has been down for days! Why so poor service one?

CSE: Let me check it out for you, Ms X. Would you mind to provide us the serial no. of the fax machine please?
Ms X: What serial no.? How many times I need to check it huh???

CSE: I am sorry, Ms X. If you can read the serial no. to me, then immediately I'll be able to check if our technician is on his way to your company.
Ms X: You wait ah.

(after half a minute...)

Ms X: OK. The serial no. of the fax machine is 123, model: XXX

CSE: I'm sorry Ms X. But you need to call XXX company to check the status of the service as we only deal with YYY model.
Ms X: Oops. OK-lor.(then put down the phone without apologizing that she got the wrong service company for their fax machine).

moral of the story: get your facts correctly before you call up anyone to complain!

season of FLU

many many ppl in my office is either coughing, sneezing or sore throat...... it's the season for the virus to spread.... and this time it can spread easily since this "ppl" is coughing a lot...as in A LOT....

i mean i do pity them but hey! if they still come into office while they are still "virus infected", i would suggest to them it's better for them to get MC and rest at home... no point to spread it around in the office and caused everyone else to fall sick...rite?

but thanks to green tea, i am still "healthy"... hopefully it will help to build up my body immune.. at least enuf to fight off those "flu viruses"..... so, guys...... time to stock-in green tea & include it in your daily diet... it helps ya....

customer service

there is so many types of customer out there. friendly, fussy, funny & weird! check out this conversation between two customer service executives (CSE I & II) with a lady customer (Ms ABC) on one fine day, late in the evening.

CSE I : Good evening, Customer Service Dept.
Ms ABC : hello. This is Ms ABC calling from XXX Company and i just fax in a toner order form. Did you receive it?
CSE I : Let me check for you Ms ABC. One moment please.

(after checking the fax machine for the order form)

CSE I : Yes, Ms ABC, we have receive your order form.
Ms ABC : Okay. Then, can I speak to Ms Catherine?
CSE I : I'm sorry Ms ABC but we do not have CSE name Catherine here.
Ms ABC : You sure or not? I just spoke to her few minutes ago.
CSE I : Well, we have two executives from the toner department but neither of them is
Catherine.
Ms ABC : Cannot be. Cannot be. I am sure i spoke to her just now.
CSE I : In this case, let me check for you. Hold on, please.

CSE I referred this case to CSE II.

CSE I : Ms ABC, I'll now pass this line to our CSE II. Maybe she can help you.
Ms ABC : Okay.
CSE II : Good evening Ms ABC, this is YYY speaking here. How can I help you?
Ms ABC : I want to speak to Catherine.
CSE II : I'm sorry Ms ABC, but we don't have any staff name Catherine here. Is there
anything I can help you? Is it regarding toner order?
Ms ABC : Aiyah. I only want to talk to Catherine. She's the one who fax me the toner order
quotation just now.
CSE II : Hmm... I have your order form now and I can see that it was prepared by CSE ZZZ.
Ms ABC : You sure or not? I am sure there is a Catherine at your office. She said that she's from
Sales Dept.
CSE II : Yes Ms ABC. I am sure we don't have a CSE name Catherine here. By the way, we
have a CSE name Catherine from our Kuching branch.
Ms ABC : No. No. No. This Catherine I spoke to just now is from your Shah Alam office here.
CSE II : Perhaps I can help you to check your order Ms ABC.
Ms ABC : No need-lah. I only want to speak to Catherine only. But since you said there's no one
name Catherine then never mind-lah(she then slam down the phone)
CSE I & II : ?????

The very next day, Ms ABC refax the same toner order form but with this notes:

" I am cancelling this order after spoken to CSE II that there is no one name Catherine who can handle my order "

THREE MINUTES MANAGEMENT COURSE

Wanna share this valueable management tips with all of you.

Read this. It's so funny.

Lesson One: An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing?" The eagle answered: "Sure, why not." So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Management Lesson: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Lesson Two: A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy." "Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull. " They're packed with nutrients." The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Management Lesson: Bullsh*t might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

Lesson Three: A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold, the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He laid there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Management Lesson:

(1) Not everyone who sh*ts on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of sh*t is your friend..
(3) And when you're in deep sh*t, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

This ends the three minute management course. Hahaha...

WORKING ATTITUDE

it's month end now... as usual, my working place is really really BUSY..... not to mention the monthly sales target for my meter reading section..... nope..... my salary is not commission based but yet there's still a certain sales target to be reached every month....... averagely, it's RM 1.2 million per month! to those who work with me, they will understand what is this monthly million dollar sales target actually means...

i must say that it's not easy to reach this target without the cooperation from various parties namely my section members including my temp staffs, svc coordinators, svc man etc.... i love working with them... they are a helpful bunch...! THANKS GUYS!!!

but still, there's this special "ONE" whom we hope that she can change her WORKING ATTITUDE as soon as possible!

lately things just don't go smoothly... how many of you encounter problems working with certain colleagues? i am sure there's many of you who face this problems...

we have no choice but to continue working with her since who are we to replace her rite? i do not want to mention names but i just feel frustated especially during this month end days... why can't she just do according to her job function??? why can't she shoulder her responsibilty the way it should be? in short, WHY CAN'T SHE JUST DO HER WORK PROPERLY??? simple isn't it?

i really hate those who don't do their job completely and u know what? when things go wrong, this "problem" person will put blame on ppl who happens to be helping her... this "problem" one actually think that other ppl owe her in doing her job from point A-Z... don't they realised that it is her responsibilty to make sure things are done & completed efficiently? NO! they don't care if things work out...

i don't know oh.... i not sure oh.... need to do one meh? my mentor never teach me one(even though she was fully trained & with notes pasted at her working desk)....
so many 1001 excuses given when you need answer to the problem cases which actually is her responsibility.... what kind of WORKING ATTITUDE is this?

sigh... you might say it's not a big deal working with this attitude problem ppl... but in long term... me(and my other fellow colleagues) might have health related problems... wrinkles especially... or high blood pressure... and if worse still, maybe heart attack... ooops... a bit exaggerated huh.....?

HELP US!!! S.O.S.

2006 EI SVC KICK-OFF

march 17th '06 (friday)- attended my company EI svc kick-off held at our office premise & followed by a dinner at Kelana Seafood Centre. As usual, we have the "chance" to taste some wine and this time it's a chinese wine which has 40% alcohol... the dinner was attended by our EI management, svc team which comprises the engineers/field technicians/CSD staff...and proud to say, two of my "ji mui" was one of the few award recipients... congrats again, conique & william c!